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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

{as i #amwriting} Bootcamp Update #4...and #5

Just...I know.

Don't look at me that way.

Five weeks of boot camp, the second month...and I've hit the rock bottom of productivity.

In my defense, though, week-long migraines are not really conductive for getting in there and pummeling those words into submission. But today, I am taking a step back from all of it - the guilt, the blame game, and the "everyone is writing faster than me!" feels to really touch on the pulse of my work schedule and what needs to go.

So, yay turning a situation around?

Yeah, I feel you, Mabel.

Anyway, updates...

I am still in this Dragon Draft. My revision of the chapter outline, though, is helping me to figure out my rough draft process and how to speed it up so that I don't go through these blind spots where I throw in endless dialogue in an attempt to silence that age-old question,

"Where do I go from here?"

But, from where I'm standing right now, I'll have three more chapters to go to complete this monster.

That is a good thing. It is a good thing.

Just three more. *deep breaths*

Asian Fantasy is at a temporary lull. I am comparing my outline of this to Dragon Draft's, and I think that I might have to take a path somewhere along the lines of my friend and fellow boot camper Katie Locke's, where everything is laid out so that I am nearly positive about where this character needs to go (see Katie's post on outlines here).

But the playlist is growing, the Pinterest board is bursting at the seams, and I occasionally stumble on these brief, bright flashes of inspiration: dialogue or imagery or just that wincing moment where one character calls out another on their nonsense.

So, that is happening.

(Gosh, I think this is my most inarticulate post ever. Please bear with me here.)

I am planning ahead for the new idea. Still. Have I mentioned before that I love planning? And playlist making? And Pinterest boards?

I am such a candy bar author. I need those sweet moments so that the bitter weeping of the drafting stage is slightly bearable.

Slightly.

I also have a new, exciting idea that I would like to write down notes for and stash away for later in the year. Hopefully. So stay tuned for talk about that.

Seriously. I love my ideas. When I first have them. (Let's not talk about later.)

In other news...
I have decided that my life's purpose is to be a magical girl.

Don't judge me.

I have also reached a snag in my reading progress, but I am taking it one day at a time. I am wondering if I am simply burnt out on YA for the time being (which is a super scary thought), or if I just need to take a step back and really devote myself to my writing.

I'd like to think it is the latter. I was talking to my friend Axie Oh, and she pointed out that everyone has a stage, and since she's been going through the same thing, maybe we're reaching a new plain where our writing means more than our reading?

I do hope so.

Plans for this week?

I hope that I'll actually have a few reviews on this blog. It's starting to look sad and empty again. We don't want it to look sad and empty, do we?
(The correct answer is no, Kaye. No, we don't.)

I also really, really want to touch base with myself and get myself to fighting form productivity-wise. Commander Tash and Corinne have both suggested the Pomodoro method, so I'm going to be looking into that this week and seeing how it works for me.